WARNING: I am not about to employ all my political opinions on you because, frankly, they do not matter. My opinions are my own and same goes for you. Seems so simple to understand, yet as people find themselves more engrossed in politics, they are losing sight of this concept. Being involved in politics should be a good thing. If we become more politically involved once we have the ability to vote our vote may have some logical and educated meaning behind it.
The fact is, however, our society has become so caught up in politics that we have lost sight of ourselves. We judge our neighbors because they are conservatives or because they are liberals. We tell people their opinion is wrong or they are bad people because they do not have the same idea on things like immigration or taxes.
Think of political opinions in this context: If you are a Christian, do you judge Jewish people for not celebrating Christmas? The answer everyone would give is "of course not!" (If your answer was "of course", please do something about that because I am not certified to help you). So, why is it "okay" to judge people on their political opinions but the country is in an uproar over religious or even racial segregation and inequality?
Our political opinions and interests, like our race or religion, do not define whether we are good people. Someone may have a liberal or conservative opinion because that is the best political option for the life they live. Society, recently, has been tacking on labels to people who openly express their political beliefs and it just does not seem right.
Being honest here, politically I am a conservative and proud of what I believe, yet I am very hesitant to always say that publicly. I feel like I am judged for my political views. There is a persona that our society attaches to conservatives and they are not true. Extreme "right wingers" seem to give every conservative a bad name. Just to clear the air: I do believe in federal funding for social programs, I believe that love is love and no one has the right to stop people from being together, and I believe everyone of every background is equal no matter what.
Liberals, just like Conservatives, receive just as much ridicule and are also victims of stereotyping. As I have become more politically educated and fallen in love with the subject in its entirely, I see the need for less judgement and more acceptance. I am not going to sit here and say I have always been the most understanding of the opposing opinion. There were times, as I first began developing my political identity, that I judged the opinions of the opposition because they countered my own. I did not understand why or how they thought different or I perceived everyone different from myself as fitting into one of society's stereotypes. My younger self quickly saw the error in doing that, much of that revelation due to the liberal friends in my life. Many of my friends adopt liberal ideals. Some may think, "you must fight over all political issues." The truth is, we do not. Not only are we understanding of how different these opinions we have are, but we are perfectly okay with it. We respect the difference and they hold no bearing on how we view each other as people. Some of my friends who identify as being liberal are amazing human beings who I am more than thankful to have in my life. This reason, alone, is why we need to break down the wall of associating political beliefs to human character.
As a freshman in college and a Political Science major, I see so many people voice their opinions and advocating so I figured I would do the same here, but my message is slightly different. Let's embrace our differing opinions. Try to understand that the person across from you in class has a different opinion because they live a completely different lifestyle than you do and the opinion they have supports their life in a better way. Learn that those differing opinions are okay.
I find myself finalizing this article on 9/11. This day is suppose to be in remembrance of the innocent men and women who lost their lives and the brave first responders on the scene. Instead, I find myself on twitter seeing people using 9/11 as a platform to further their own political values on social issues. Using the the number of lives lost on the day of 9/11 and comparing it to the number of police-related deaths since the 9/11 attacks? Are we serious? Today is suppose to be a day we break party lines and united as a nation under the values we all believe in so strongly: liberty and freedom. Instead of uniting as a stronger nation and showing the world that nothing can shake us, we are continuing to show that we let political values divide us on very issue and in everyday life.
I, one day, want to see a country not so hung-up on politics. As much as I love the subject matter of politics, I love people so much more. If I had let my values dictate how I viewed the character of people, I would have missed out on so many great people that are now in my life. Listen to me closely when I say this: at the end of the day, politics do not matter. Love all and accept all. Your opinion may differ from someone else but it really does not matter.
